Creating Falling Snow: A Lighting Tutorial

In this Slanted Lens tutorial we are going to show you how to build a snow falling rig and then how to light falling show. I have seen many snow falling rigs in Hollywood over the years and all of them were made by a special effect house. Its hard to find a set up at Wall Mart that will create a curtain of falling plastic snow 10 feet wide. Consequently I have built many of these over the years and have simplified the process so it can be built in an hour or so and then thrown away when we are done. I use a plastic snow that I get from Studio Specialties here in Los Angeles. This is the web address http://www.superiorstudio.com. Shipping is not to expensive because the product is very light.
I shoot snow mostly in the summer time when there is not any good snow in the US that is easy to get to. This means shooting snow scenes with talent wearing ski jackets and mittens in Los Angeles heat. During one shoot we did, on the back lot at Warner Brothers, it was 90 degrees and the talent were sweating profusely. It is hard to look cold when large beads of sweat are rolling down your face. It is a fun process. Here is how we build a snow rig and light and shoot falling snow.
Good luck and Keep on click’n!

Jay P. Morgan